


Electric Catenary

by Golbez



Category: Battle B-Daman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Character Study, Drama, Emotional Manipulation, Established Relationship, Love/Hate, M/M, POV Alternating, POV Second Person, Past Relationship(s), Pre-Canon, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, does this count as netorare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golbez/pseuds/Golbez
Summary: Cornell returns out of Enjyu's past and stirs up some drama within the Shadow Alliance.
Relationships: Cornell/Enjyu, Cornell/Wen Yong Fa, Enjyu/Wen Yong Fa
Kudos: 2





	Electric Catenary

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hiragi_Houx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiragi_Houx/gifts).



> This fic was inspired by a comic drawn by hiragihoux <3
> 
> Some things:
> 
> 1\. This is mostly about Wen drama, as a sort of "this is like a prelude to future Cornell-related shenanigans in the Shadow Alliance," leading to the fairly open ending.  
> 2\. Based on the original JP version of the anime, Cornell's canonical element is lightning and Enjyu only took it up after. But I've headcanoned water for him for ages so for this fic I'm using water as his header. I like to think Enjyu and Cornell are basically lightning/fire and lightning/water respectively for some parallel fun.

**v. fire**

He's standing at the training room entrance like he's not a ghost haunting you.

A lot about him's the same, like the shock of dark green hair cropped short, or the preference for faux furs lining his clothes. He's even got that same cocky grin that lights up his entire face.

A lot about him's different too, but mostly it's the scar that dominates half his face, the exposed flesh an angry pink where it clearly hasn't healed right. Other scars crisscross his forearms and he's taller than you remember, shoulders broader, but that's just the years marking their passing on his body, as they have on yours.

But standing across him, your gaze meeting his as his grin falters, it's as though you've never been apart.

His lips part to speak, but he stops. The silence between you is as long as a battlefield. He crosses it anyway, before you can even fathom the thought of doing so.

"It's been a while, Enjyu," Cornell says, and his brown eyes are expectant of you.

It takes you much less time to make a decision. You scoff and stride toward him. You have training to do. You don't have time for this.

You don't look at him as you walk by. "I don't talk to trash," you declare as you pass.

You aren't going to let this rattle you; you're stronger than that. The fires that forged you tempered you into a lightning bolt impossible to tame and hurt. You already destroyed him once, after all, and you're perfectly willing to do it again.

If anyone notices that you shove Wen aside on your way to a field a little more roughly than usual, they know better than to say anything.

  


**iv. ice**

You're pretty sure that Enjyu's finally lost it. Like, _really_ lost it. You know this because he's been distracted by something for the past week, something that's made him angrier than usual. You know he's angrier than usual because he's been _really_ quiet all these days while also pushing you around physically a lot more often. You fight back each time, but you're honestly getting kind of sick of it. Making out with him hasn't been much fun lately either.

You're ruminating over _the problem with Enjyu_ at lunch when someone slides into the seat beside you.

It's the new kid who joined up with the Alliance just a week ago.

Wait...

"Hey, you're Wen, right?" he asks, interrupting your train of thought.

You meet his gaze and can't help but wonder how he got that big scar on his face, but it doesn't seem right to ask. "Yeah, and you're...Cornell?"

"That's me," he replies, then he's smiling at you, and it's big and bright and genuine that you're not sure what he's doing in the Shadow Alliance. No one here smiles like that, not even new recruits. Most folks who join the Shadow Alliance didn't have reason to smile in the first place, after all.

"Did you need something?" You don't bother with the pleasantries. It's not often someone comes and talks to you without wanting something out of you.

"Oh, just came by to say hi." Cornell stretches in his seat. "It's been a week and we haven't been properly introduced...actually, people around here really don't like to talk to each other, huh? Talk about antisocial."

A laugh slips from your lips before you can stop it. He blinks at you in clear bewilderment, so you shake your head and sigh.

"Yeah, no one's really friendly in the Shadow Alliance," you tell him. It's actually kind of cute that he thought he'd find something different here. "Comes with the territory, you know?"

"Heh, well I'm glad you're different then," says Cornell too cheerfully.

You take a moment to figure out how to reply to that, because how could you, a mighty warrior of the Shadow Alliance, let someone call you friendly?

"Actually—"

"The hell is this?" snarls Enjyu from behind you.

You freeze as you feel his hand come down on your shoulder. Even when you can't see him, his presence _oozes_ his disapproval of whatever's going on here, and judging by the way his grip on you is tightening, you have a feeling he's only poised to get angrier.

"Heya Enjyu," says Cornell, looking utterly unperturbed.

You can't help but stare at him, at the way he's looking up at Enjyu like he's just greeting an old friend. Maybe you aren't too far off the mark though, since Enjyu only started getting weird(er) after Cornell arrived...You grimace at Cornell, but he's looking up at Enjyu.

"Wen, don't talk to this garbage," says Enjyu. His grip tightens enough that you wince. "Don't let him even come near you again."

"Hang on, Cornell was just saying hi." You try to shrug off his hand, but he's just not letting go. "What's your damage?"

"Yeah Enjyu," says Cornell, and he's smiling again. "There's nothing wrong with me going around and meeting other folks in the Shadow Alliance, is there?"

This somehow gets Enjyu to finally release you, so you twist in your seat to glare up at him. His brow is knit together, his gaze pointedly on Cornell. The sheer intensity of his expression catches you off guard. It...it kind of scares you. You never could read him too well, but this feels like it's another level of _Enjyu_ that you've never seen before.

"Do what you want," he says finally, through gritted teeth. He looks down at you, face still harsh. "Wen, let's get out of here."

"Actually..." You glance at Cornell, who is giving you a wide-eyed look. Your heart is pounding away as you look back up to meet Enjyu's gaze, his eyes already narrowing at what you're trying to say. "I'm hanging out with Cornell today."

Enjyu's lip twitches. You're already expecting this to turn into a screaming match. It wouldn't be the first time a fight between you two goes that way.

To your surprise, he just repeats, "Do what you want."

You're so stunned that he'd just let this go, you don't get another word in before he turns on his heel and leaves you to it.

And that's how you end up passing the next few weeks in Cornell's company rather than Enjyu's. Li doesn't seem to like him as much, so it's often just the two of you in your rare bits of free time.

Cornell's funny and charming and untouched by the Shadow Alliance's worst tenets, even when the scar on his face suggests he has all the reason to be the worst of them all, and strangely your long days of training feel lighter with him around. He lets you into his room so you can chat in private, and he tells you about his past. He tells you Enjyu cheated him when they were much younger, and you're not surprised that Enjyu would do that because that's the Shadow Alliance way, but it makes you angry in a way you don't understand. It makes you angry for Cornell's sake.

There's a lot about him that makes you feel in ways you don't understand. He makes you laugh in a way you didn't know you still could. His smile and touch make your heart flutter and tighten. There's something about the look in his eyes when you're talking that sends mysterious quivers down your spine.

You finally understand when he pins you to his bedroom door one evening and kisses you— _really_ kisses you—and you don't even entertain the notion of pushing him away like you did the first time Enjyu kissed you.

  


**iii. wind**

Ababa doesn't like it when you hang around the Shadow Alliance headquarters, and you have a feeling he suspects you'd go looking for Liena if you spend too much time here. Well, he's right...you would if you had the chance, but he sends you off again and again that it doesn't matter anyway.

So when you come back to headquarters this time, you don't expect to walk right into some drama between your fellow B-daplayers involving the new kid.

The drama corners you before you can escape, roping you into what you absolutely think is a horrible, bad, and no-good idea with the usual blackmail involving Liena. You grumble the entire way to the mess hall, and you're still annoyed by the time you slip into the seat beside Wen.

"Uh, Gray?" Wen's surprised, which isn't surprising since you've never sat with him at lunch before. You're not here to make friends. You're here to do what you're told and get out safely with your sister. Wen blinks at you. "That's Cornell's seat."

"I know," you say curtly. You just want to get this over with. "Look, Wen, you need to stop hanging out with him."

"What?" He's offended, and that's also not surprising. "Gray, what are you talking about?"

"Look, I'm pretty good at reading people," you say, which is a fact you do like to think is true, even if it's not really why you're here right now. Growing up alone with a sister means you've had to learn to be as perceptive as possible around strangers. "And Cornell's...Cornell's bad news. He's using you. I can tell."

Wen stares, mouth open like he can't believe what he's hearing. You wouldn't blame him; there's a reason you think this is a bad idea.

"...Enjyu put you up to this, didn't he?" he finally asks.

"What? No?" You blink back at him. What does Enjyu have to do with any of this? What?

"What the hell, Gray," Wen's scowling now, shifting in his seat to widen the distance between you. "Doing Enjyu's dirty work now? Run back to him and tell him he can come get me himself if he's _that_ jealous of what I've got with Cornell."

...Just what exactly is this drama supposed to be? You stare at him just a moment longer, letting the silence between you settle.

"Well, can't say I didn't try." You shrug and rise out of the seat. You aren't going to stick around to get called Enjyu's lackey a moment longer. "Good luck, Wen."

" _Right_ ," is all Wen says in response.

For once, you're actually eager to get out of the base, if it means not being caught up in whatever's going on here. You have one goal, after all, and that means not being distracted by the other B-daplayers.

  


**ii.** **shadow**

You grimace, glowering in the direction of Wen and Cornell greeting each other at the end of the day's training. No matter what you do, it's like your brother just doesn't care that Cornell isn't as great a guy as he thinks. So he's a drop of sunshine in the otherwise overwhelmingly dismal atmosphere of the Shadow Alliance—so what? That's what your brother always was before he came along. Now he's taken that from Wen.

And you haven't forgotten what you witnessed not even a day after they first kissed (Wen wouldn't stop talking about him, so _of course_ you know they kissed). Cornell sneaking aorund with Enjyu and _taunting_ him about getting Wen! There's sneaky, which you like as a firm believer in the way of the Shadow, and then there's _sneaky_ , which is what Cornell's doing and you don't like this at all.

You even wrangled Gray into trying to offer Wen some friendly advice, but that backfired on you disappointingly. This snake's sunk his fangs so deeply into your brother's heart, that he won't even listen to someone who has no reason to care.

Wen's laughter draws you out of your thoughts. You can't help but just frown at him reacting to some joke Cornell made. It's infuriating how happy he makes Wen, when you know it's all some terrible lie. You don't even know _why_ he's doing this, and that's what makes it worse.

Maybe Ababa won't notice if you make him _disappear_?

They're kissing. Right there at the entrance of the training room. Like they don't care who sees them. Like they _want_ everyone to see them.

You're seeing red, but it's nothing compared to the cracking noise coming from where Enjyu's still standing at a battlefield. His eyes are at their most murderous and his hands are gripping the table's edge so tightly he's managed to break the stone from the sheer power rippling through his arms.

And that's when you realize they're kissing because Cornell wants _Enjyu_ to see.

You've been going about this all wrong. You've had an ally from the start.

So once the room's cleared out and Wen and Cornell have gone off to be gross elsewhere, you stride on over to Enjyu. You've never particularly liked him either, because he thinks he's better than everyone else, especially you and Wen. Plus you know he's kissed your brother and you know he's the one who left marks on Wen's neck and arms all this time, and that's kind of really gross too, but you'd rather Wen spent time with someone who didn't hide his intentions with him than someone like Cornell.

"Enjyu," you say. "I think it's time we had a truce."

He turns to you, and you're struck by the sheer vehemence and hate in his eyes, such that you get the feeling he's not really looking at you. Maybe he didn't even hear you. Maybe he's never even considered your constantly being a nuisance in his attempts at spending time alone with Wen more often a war the way you do.

Either way, this reaction is kind of exactly what you need, so you continue, "We want the same thing."

He finally starts to respond, hands alighting from the battlefield, where Lightning Kahn still sits between the chipped stone. He's shaking as his hands curl into fists, expression wild as he speaks, "I can kill him without your help."

You snort and fold your hands together, sleeves over your fingers and hiding them.

"I'm not interested in killing Cornell," you tell him, looking up at him with a firm gaze. At the way his eyebrow rises, you go on, "I want to humiliate and destroy him. I want to make him live with the regret that he ever came near my brother and dared to use him for his own ends. I can tolerate what you have with Wen, but _not_ what Cornell's doing to him."

His eyes are actually wide with shock. Good. He doesn't know what you've been through, the things you've learned from Ababa, just to protect Wen, even as you've tried so hard to surpass him.

(That ever present irksome voice in the back of your mind whispers to you: _this is why you can't surpass him. Wen would never stoop as low as you have to protect you._ )

Enjyu's eyes narrow, and he affects one of his typical sneers just for you.

"Fine," he growls. "What did you have in mind?"

  


**i.** **water**

He's standing at your bedroom door like he's not a ghost haunting you.

He didn't even knock when he came in, barging in like this is his room too. From the month or so you've spent here, it's behavior that's not entirely off the mark for Enjyu, considering they let him get away with just about anything.

It's been a a little over a month, but it still stings to see him. You'll always remember that moment you first saw him after all these years. A lot about him's the same as the last time you saw him, when he attacked you. When he left you for dead. When he'd made it so you'd wake up a long, long time later in a hospital bed, only to be informed that everyone you ever knew and everything about the place you'd called home had gone up in flames. You'd suspected, but then you'd known for sure, as soon as you'd laid your eyes on him, that he was the fire that took everything from you.

You scowl at him and swing yourself off your bed, rising to your feet so you can be at eye level with him. You've no intention of letting him stand taller than you ever again.

"What do you want?" you demand, dropping all pretense of friendliness. Maybe it's wrong and a sign that you've become just as bad as him, but pretending to be nice? Pretending to be as cheerful as you ever were? With the scars he gave you, it's harder than it looks.

His movement is stiff, but the dirty look he's giving you just tells you how much he's holding himself back.

"I'm the one who should be asking that," snarls Enjyu, "What the hell do _you_ want so that you'll leave Wen alone? An apology for everything that happened before?" He pauses, then mumbles to himself, "...even if you're the one who ruined _my_ life."

You laugh in his face.

"Man, you still think this is about Wen?" you ask.

"What?"

You give him a mocking grin, the same way he once looked at you all those years ago. It's the expression that haunted your years of sleep. You want him to know the pain that plagued you. You want him to hurt, more than he hurt you, because this is all you have left. This is what he gave you when he took everything from you.

"I don't give a shit about Wen," you say. You've lied a lot since you woke up. This one isn't a lie.

Enjyu's fingers curl into fists at his sides, and his lip twitches, his brow furrows deeper. Does he even notice how he's reacting? Does he even know what he feels?

"But _you_ do," you add. You let your grin settle into a smile. You've got him where you want him. You're sure this will rankle him, that you were doing _something_ to him without him realizing it. " _You_ give more than a few shits about Wen, and that's why I'm never going to leave him alone. Not as long as it's killing you that he likes me more than he likes you, Enjyu."

His tone is surprisingly even when he looks you in the eyes and asks, "What if I said I didn't care about him either?"

"You can't fool me, Enjyu." You shake your head. "I wouldn't have gone to all that trouble of making that idiot like me in the first place if that were true, but it's not. I've always been able to read you like an open book, it's actually kind of boring how easy this was."

He's quiet. Fists still clenched. You're actually surprised he hasn't attacked you yet, not even in the past month. Of that, you can't guess why, but you're sure it doesn't matter. What matters is the hurt mingling with the rage in his eyes.

"If I'm the one you want to hurt..." Enjyu grits his teeth as he speaks. "Then hurt _me_. Leave him alone, Cornell. He doesn't deserve what you're doing to him...please."

You can't believe this.

That's not fair. That's just _not fair_. He cares about Wen way more than you believed. Way more than he cared about you. You can see it now in his eyes: he'd be willing to sacrifice his pride like this anyday for Wen. But when it came to you—

You're shaking as you step closer to him, shrinking the distance between you as far as you can go. It's just not fair.

"No," you tell him. "I just told you, I don't care about Wen. Man, I don't even like him! But, see, if I have to hurt his little feelings to get to you...who cares? You even made it so easy. He was so starved of _your_ friendship he practically ran into my arms."

His eyes stay on yours; his breath is warm against your lips. He smells of strawberry, which is kind of weird for him, but it's not unpleasant. A lot about him's different. But a lot's the same. And it's what's the same that's made you imagine, every time you kissed Wen, that you were kissing Enjyu again instead.

_B-damage_ , you fucking hate him.

One gloved hand wraps around your wrist, catching you by surprise. He sneers and reaches under your chin, tilting your head up so he can hold your gaze better. His eyes look straight into yours, as if searching you for _something_ that he just isn't finding.

"Cornell," he says, and you can hear the hate in his voice. It's nice to know he feels the same way. "You really are crap."

He pulls away and steps back to the door.

It swings open to reveal Wen and his little brother.

You freeze.

The little brother is giving you the smuggest look, and that's when you know you miscalculated when you tried to push him out of Wen's life.

Enjyu's expression has settled into something blank.

And Wen—Wen is gazing at you with wide eyes and a slack jaw, and it's, it's exactly like back then—

— _the jeering crowd, the pressure of his pleas, and you...you cave and betray him_ —

"Wen," you breathe, and your mind's racing to find something to say so your plan doesn’t fall apart right here. "Hang on, I can explain."

He doesn't let you. He doesn't run away either, not like you might have expected. Wen crosses the distance between you, shoving past Enjyu, and tackles you into the ground. He's so fast, you don't even have time to cry out, before his fist meets your face and you black out.


End file.
